Church of the Cross, Lahti

First day back in Lahti, Finland and my though for the day's blip was some unfinished business from my 2012 visit. I blipped the exterior of The Church of the Cross with a photo taken at about 4PM. When I went to take a look inside at the wonderful design, the sign on the door said Open 10 till 3PM. I was an hour too late and had no time to go back again on that trip.

I made sure that it was today my first point of call on my recovery from jetlag walk. My main point of focus was the amazing 52-stop organ built by Veikko Virtanen. It has become widely famous, as has the Lahti City Orchestra which has made most of its recordings in this church. (Worth a look in large.)

If you want to see the outside views of this unique church, see my blips from 2 years ago on September 10th and 11th.

The story of the Church of the Cross (Evangelical Lutheran) began in 1950, when the city of Lahti announced an architectural competition that was won by Alvar Aalto. The original site however was not an empty spot on a hill, as the city's wooden church from the 19th century previously stood there.

It was decided that the wooden church was too small for the growing community. The church is on the visual axis with Lahti's town hall designed by Eliel Saarinen.

The drawings for the construction of the Church of the Cross project were started in 1969. The legend tells us that this was the last project of Alvar Aalto. When the star-architect died, the drawings of the Lahti church were on his desk. Alvar Aalto died on May 11, 1976, in Helsinki. The Church of the Cross was completed in 1978 by the architect's widow, Elissa Aalto.

The clean lines and the clear style of Alvar Aalto is also characteristic of the Church of the Cross, whose base forms a triangle. Adjacent is the Veterans' Cemetery and its 600 graves, a fitting memorial to the deceased buried in Karelia, which is now a part of Russia.

(As a result of the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that concluded the Winter War, Finland ceded the area of Finnish Karelia and other territories to the Soviet Union. Accordingly, about 410,000 Finnish Karelians, or 12% of Finland's population, were forced out and relocated into the remainder of Finland.)

An interesting side notice: there was actually no cross on the top of the tower in the original design. After long discussions and negotiations, the tower now has a small cross on it after-all. Not sure if it was called Church of the Cross before or after this decision!

I also backblipped here for yesterday, if you have time to check out George.